23 July,2010 08:50 AM IST | | Hemal Ashar
Recently, there was a report of two boys being washed away by the tide as they stood on the rocks near Bandra Bandstand. It is difficult to think about those rocks as life takers. After all, they have long been hideouts for lovers desperate for quiet moments in a space-starved city. Their nooks and crevices tell tales of sweet nothings whispered feverishly in that adrenaline-charged existence of young love. The Bandstand deaths are part of a spate of incidents in which youngsters have been washed away at a beach, lake or dam, especially during the monsoon when the sea is
particularly fierce.
His kidneys were failing and he was getting ready to die ufffd one man waging a futile war against the raging sea
These drowning deaths remind me of a remarkable television programme based on a true story called Freefall: I Should Not Be Alive featuring a skydiver called Will Slattery. The US-based Slattery was on a holiday in Costa Rica (Central America), skydiving with a couple of friends. They were preparing for a jump when the plane ran into turbulence. They wanted to turn around and go home but were forced to jump straight into a cloudy sky since they were certain the plane was about to crash.
Slattery's friends were killed and so was the plane's pilot. Slattery, however, landedu00a0 straight in the Pacific Ocean. In the midst ofu00a0 shark-infested waters with a pair of shorts on, he was wondering if this was how he was meant to die.u00a0
Hours passed. Rapidly dehydrating and with his energy reserves used up, Slattery saw a log in the ocean and clung on to it. He floated on it all night, stung by a school of jellyfish. The salt water in his system was making his kidneys fail and he was getting ready to die ufffd one man waging a futile war against the sea. He had spent 24 hours in the Pacific.
Just when death seemed imminent, a small fishing boat found the barely-alive Slattery. He was taken to a hospital and still lives on to tell his mind-boggling tale.
On the one hand then, you have Will Slattery and a shark-infested Pacific Ocean. On the other, you have young men washed away from shores by waves and even babies who have drowned in a bucket of water by accident.
Slattery's survival proves that even the mighty Pacific bristling with sharks can do nothing when destiny says: live on.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
